Ethiopia goes organic to feed herself - The Institute of Science In ...

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16 hybrid rice Liangyoupei 9, which came both from savings and increased yield. The amount of hybrid seed needed in SRI methods was only 3 - 4.5 kg, which represented a seed saving of 8.3 - 10.5 kg and nursery saving of 90%, thereby reducing the cost by 215 Yuan/ha. As only compost was applied, the saving on the 10-12 t/ha fertilizer that would have been used was 1 200 Yuan/ha. The saving on water, some 3 000 tonnes, was about 150 Yuan/ha. The total saving with SRI methods thus amounted to about 1 565 Yuan/ha. Add to that a 15% increase in yield (1.5 tonnes/ha) and the farmer gets a total additional profit of about 3 000 Yuan/ha (about US$ 360). The Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences has done SRI trials for three years in succession. Its 2003, trials showed an average SRI yield of 13 t/ha. Another series of trials in 7 regions of Zhejian Province using 8 varieties all resulted in increased yield under SRI; the average increase being 1.5 t/ha over already high-yielding controls. The China National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Centre introduced hybrid varieties into Africa and recommended that they be used with SRI methods. In 2003, a 9.2 t/ha yield was obtained with hybrid GY032 in Guinea under SRI methods, which was 4 times the national average yield. SRI in Gambia The Gambia, a small country (11700km 2 ) in West Africa, is a 50 km-wide ribbon of land extending eastward from the coast, bisected by the River Gambia and surrounded on three sides by Senegal. Its annual rainfall is 900 to 1400 mm; the rainy season between late May and early October. Rice is the staple of the country and there are 5 very different production systems: upland, lowland rainfed, irrigated (pump and tidal), freshwater swamps and seasonally saline mangrove swamp. Annual rice consumption averages 70 to 110 kg per capita; domestic production lags behind by 60%, and the balance is met by imports. The national average yield of rice is only 2 t/ha. SRI was introduced to The Gambia in the rainy season of 2000 as part of the Ph. D. thesis of Mustapha M. Ceesay in Crop and Soil Sciences at Cornell University in the United States. Farmers were invited to visit the first SRI trial site at the Sapu station of the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) in The Gambia before they enrolled voluntarily in the research programme. During the first year of experimentation, three different plant population densities were investigated with several varieties. Yields ranged from 5.4 to 8.3 t/ha. In 2001, plant population densities were investigated alongside fertilizer treatments, and on-farm trials involving 10 farmer households. The on-station SRI trials were conducted under pump irrigation, and onfarm trials under tidal irrigation. Plant population densities investigated were 20cm x 20cm, 30cm x 30cm and 40cm x 40cm. Two rice varieties were used, and instead of compost, three fertilizer treatment rates were assessed: NKP in the following proportions: 70-30-30 (national recommended), 140-30-30 and 280- 30-30. All trials took place in the lowlands. The on-station trials indicated that 30cm x 30cm spacing did not decrease yield over the 20cm x 20cm, and was hence recommended to the farmers for the on-farm trial. Fertilizer treatments indicated that under SRI, the nationally recommended lowest rate was as effective as doubling the rate, while tripling the rate gave higher yields, but it was not economically profitable. The on-farm trials, conducted in a communal tidal irrigation scheme, gave "exciting" results, "a tripling of yield" on average, 7.4 t/ha compared with 2.5 t/ha obtained with farmers' current practices. Some farmers experienced more than five-fold increases, from 1.6 to 9.0 t/ha in one case, and 1.4 to 8.0 t/ha in another. But there are problems facing the farmers in land preparation. Farmers in The Gambia still do not have a welldeveloped culture of water control. Fields are simply kept flooded after transplanting until the rice plants mature, and fertilizer application and weeding are done under submerged conditions. These practices will conflict with the adoption of SRI, but the yield increases may be a sufficient incentive for farmers to overcome these problems. SRI in other countries Many countries reported remarkable increases in yield. Salinda Dissanayake, Member of Parliament in Sri Lanka, personally tested SRI in his own rice field of a little more than 2 acres for four seasons, using seeds of various varieties. He got the highest yield of 17 t/ha with BG358, a variety developed by the Sri Lankan rice researchers. Even with local varieties such as Rathhel and Pachdhaiperumal, usually much lower yielding at ~2 t/ha, impressive yields of 8 t/ha and 13 t/ha were obtained. Dissanayake formed a small group to inform farmers of SRI; and farmers who took up SRI from 18 districts have doubled their yields on average. "These yields were obtained with less water, less seed, less chemical fertilizer, and less cost of production per kilogram …among SRI users, we find people of many different income and educational levels and different social standing, including many poor farmers having only small plots of land, farmers with moderate income, some agricultural scientists, and a few administrators, businessmen and political leaders who practice it with their own convictions," Dissanayake said. H. M. Premaratna, a farmer from the Ecological Farming Centre, Mellawalana, Sri Lanka, backed up the enthusiasm of his Member of Parliament, and has personally provided training on SRI to more than 3000 farmers by 2002. "From my experience, I have observed that the rice plant becomes a healthier plant once the basic SRI practices are adopted," he said. Reports from 17 countries in 2002 showed that three-quarters of the cases gave a significant yield advantage of at least 20 to 50% increase, and although the super-yields reported from Madagascar have not been obtained elsewhere, some farmers in Cambodia and Sri Lanka have come close. Overall, the conventional systems yielded 3.9 t/ha, very close to the world average for rice production. The average for all the SRI yields reported was 6.8 t/ha. A report from the Philippines not only documented yield increases over several successive growing seasons since 1999, but also a reduction of crop pests such as rats and brown and green leafhoppers, carriers of the dreaded rice tungro virus disease. This was attributed to the increased spacing of plants, allowing more sunlight to penetrate even the base of the plant, exposing the hoppers, which detest and avoid sunlight. In Cambodia, SRI is spreading very rapidly. Only 28 farmers were willing to try SRI in 2000, by 2003, this number had grown to almost 10 000 and in 2004, 50 000 farmers are expected to adopt it. Perhaps the greatest testament that SRI works is the increasing number of farmers who have adopted the practice. SiS SCIENCE IN SOCIETY 23, AUTUMN 2004
17 Dr. Mae-Wan Ho reports on how ducklings in the paddy fields turned weeds to resources and increased yield and leisure for farmers During the last leg of a six-day lecture tour in Japan in 1999, I was fortunate enough to have visited an organic farmer not far from Fukuoka, who was reputed to have done wonders introducing ducks into the rice paddy field. The train ride from Tokyo lasted five and a half hours, speeding through a most unusual landscape, which repeats itself in endless variations for the entire duration. It consists of large and small clusters of houses and the occasional single abode, all floating, it seems, on a sea of paddy fields. Paddy fields fill every available inch of land that is not built upon, and most of the plots are tiny. That was a real surprise for me, who, like most people, imagine Japan to be a fully industrialized developed nation. Our hosts from the Green Co-op in Fukuoka met us at the sta- One Bird - Ten Thousand Treasures tion, and after the usual polite exchange of bows, we were taken to another platform for the local train to Keisen, where the famous organic farmer Mr. Takao Furuno had kindly invited all three of us: Tony Boys, my interpreter for the occasion and Mr. Watanabe, a fellow speaker, to stay the night with his family. It was getting dark by the time we arrived in Keisen. Tony telephoned from a booth outside the station, and some minutes later, Mr. Furuno himself came to pick us up in his mini-van. We drove a short distance and stopped in front of a largish but modestly built and modestly furnished bungalow. Mrs. Furuno opened the door and gave us a warm traditional Japanese welcome. We were invited to sit down around the dinner table where all the children came to greet us. Five healthy, suntanned and smiling children, two boys and three girls between the ages of 16 and 8, introduced themselves, then retreated next-door to the kitchen where they were served supper. Grandma and Grandpa were busy with food preparation, and appeared only later to say hello. The Furunos were a handsome couple in their forties. He, wiry and dark, with a winsome squint and sparkle to his eyes, had the appearance of being both amused and content with life, as he had every reason to be. He spoke in an even, unhurried manner, with a gentle tone. She was of medium build, lively, good-looking and more openly ebullient about their success. Of course, they did not mean financial success, they meant success of the farming method, which, since its introduction ten years ago, has been spreading all over Southeast Asia. In Japan, about 10 000 farmers had taken it up by 1999; and it has also been adopted by farmers in South Korea, Vietnam, The Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia. Farmers have increased their yield 20 to 50 percent or more in the first year. One farmer in Laos increased his income three-fold. It is obviously a boon to Third World farmers. "We want to help", the Furunos declared, "financial success is unimportant. We did not patent the method, we just want it to be widely adopted." The method has been researched and perfected over the years in their own fields. At this point, Mr. Furuno introduced a young visitor who was working with the family in order to learn the method. "There's always someone here who wants to learn, and everyday, I get several phone calls from people needing advice," he said as a matter of fact, without either false modesty or pride. The young man's eyes widened when he learned that I was the niece of Kyu Ei Kan's wife. Kyu Ei Kan is a writer most renowned for his books on how to make money. And to demonstrate that what he writes is sound, he proceeded to make a lot of money himself. The excited young man pushed the book he was reading in front of me. It had my uncle's photograph on the cover, and the title, How I Became Rich - An Autobiography. Mr. Furuno must really be a great success if a young man who dreams of becoming rich should be so eager to learn from him. I made a mental note to tell my aunt, and maybe persuade my rich uncle to go into the organic farming business. "Well, it has been called a 'one-bird revolution'", my host began, "the duck is the key to success." The secret is to release ducklings into the paddy fields soon after the seedlings are planted. But won't the ducklings eat the rice seedlings? No. "It is in their nature not to eat the rice seedlings." Mr. Furuno assured me, then added, "agronomists in the university say it's because rice seedlings have too much silica." They have made a very good video, complete with English narration, which shows how the ducklings readily take to the paddy field when they are led there to be released. About 20 ducklings are released per tenth of a hectare. They genuinely seem to enjoy getting into the water, where they paddled contentedly between the rows of rice seedlings, now ducking under the surface of the water, now raising their heads to swallow something, but never harming the rice seedlings. In fact, the ducks are good for the rice plants in many ways, including the mechanical stimulation they provide, which makes the plant stems thicker and stronger, as demonstrated by careful experimentation. Mr. Furuno did attend agricultural college, but he did not learn the Aigamo method there. Aigamo is the name for the ducks, which is a crossbreed between domestic and wild ducks. He simply worked out the method by a combination of "contemplation, inspiration and experimentation". Actually, ducks have been raised in paddy fields in China and probably other parts of South East Asia since a long time ago. But the farmers never left the ducks in the fields, and were unaware of all the benefits that the ducks can bring. The benefits the ducks give to the rice plants are numerous; again, that was worked out by Mr. Furuno's scientific experiments carefully set up in the field. The ducks eat up insect pests and the golden snail, which attack rice plants. They also eat the seeds and seedlings of weeds, using their feet to dig up the weed seedlings, thereby oxygenating the water and encouraging the roots of the rice plants to grow. You can actually see the difference between the plants in the Aigamo plots and the control plots without Aigamo. In fact, the ducks are so good at weeding that farmers who have adopted the method now have time to sit and chat instead of spending up to 240 person-hours per hectare in manual weeding every year. Besides, 'pests and weeds' have been miraculously transformed into resources for rearing ducks. The ducks are left in the fields 24 hours a day, and do not need to be herded back to the shed. They are protected from dogs by an electric fence or some other bar- Takao Furano by Mae-Wan Ho www.i-sis.org.uk
Page 1 and 2: Science in Society ISSUE 23 Autumn
Page 3 and 4: From the Editor Corporations coveti
Page 5 and 6: 5 dependency ratio and although off
Page 7 and 8: 7 Figure 1. Maize yields in 5 sites
Page 9 and 10: Rice Wars 9 Fantastic Rice Yields F
Page 12 and 13: 12 New Rice for Africa Dr. Mae-Wan
Page 14 and 15: 14 Does SRI Work? The first reality
Page 18 and 19: ier around the field. There is a pa
Page 20 and 21: 20 Chinese researchers have develop
Page 22 and 23: 22 Two Rice Better than One Lim Li
Page 24 and 25: "Silicon Valley of agricultural bio
Page 26 and 27: 26 Approval of Bt11 Maize Endangers
Page 28 and 29: 28 Prof. Joe Cummins discovers that
Page 30 and 31: 30 Collusion and Corruption in GM P
Page 32 and 33: 32 Questions over Schmeiser's Rulin
Page 34 and 35: 34 DNA in GM Food & Feed The govern
Page 36 and 37: 36 denum of cattle. The studies wer
Page 38 and 39: Prof. Joe Cummins explains why gene
Page 40 and 41: 40 Technology Watch Bio-remediation
Page 42 and 43: Rethinking health Selenium Conquers
Page 44 and 45: 44 Delivering Good Health Through G
Page 46 and 47: 46 process in which new humans are
Page 48 and 49: 48 molecules in liquid, allowing ra
Page 50 and 51: 50 Water Forms Massive Exclusion Zo

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